by Rebecca King
I could refuse him and could be snatched purely because I do look like Caroline. I may never be able to venture into town, or anywhere else for that matter, and feel safe again.
“I will help you,” she burst out before second thoughts kept her quiet. She suspected that whatever fear she felt while helping Oliver would be nothing to the fear that she would face should the kidnapper try to snatch her. “On one or two conditions.”
“And they are?” Oliver crossed his arms and waited for a long list of petulant demands.
“That you really do show me how to defend myself should anybody try to snatch me. I want to know what I can do, say, to get someone to release their hold on me, and what to do should anybody try to grab me.”
Oliver nodded. “Agreed.”
“I also want some assurance that you will do everything possible to make sure that I don’t get taken like Caroline. I don’t think I could bear that,” Emmeline’s voice trailed off because she struggled to contain the emotion that crept over her.
She truly hadn’t thought she was all that distressed by the dire news of Caroline’s demise, but now that she had to speak her sister’s name, the emotions she hadn’t known were there all struggled to get to the surface at once. Emmeline’s chin wobbled, her lip quivered, and Oliver suddenly swam in her vision. She sucked in a fortifying breath and willed herself to control herself, at least until Oliver had gone, but two fat tears rolled down her cheeks. She looked at him in mute appeal, half apology for a moment, because there was nothing she could do.
Oliver sighed and dropped his arms. The sight of those two tears and the somewhat lost look in her eye slammed the rest of his barriers of self-preservation out of the way. He stepped forward and dragged her into a hug before he even realised that he had moved across the kitchen. While he should be elated that she had agreed to help him, he had to wonder what the personal cost to her would be. It wasn’t that he was ever going to allow her to be in any physical danger, but he knew that to help the Star Elite with their investigation would, in effect, be asking her to relive an aspect of Caroline’s life that was always going to bring Emmeline problems, especially now that she knew of Caroline’s death. Besides, it was inevitable she was going to grieve her sister. From the sound of it, Caroline had been Emmeline’s closest living relation. It was inevitable that there had to be a period of mourning. Was it right, therefore, that the Star Elite ask her to do this? Oliver didn’t think there would ever be a right time to ask a beautiful young woman like Emmeline to put her life in danger, but the prospect of rescinding the offer and letting the Star Elite crumble into the dust, dragged there by the callous machinations of the arrogantly wealthy, was too repulsive to ignore. Even though he had no choice but to follow his orders, Oliver could do everything possible to ensure Emmeline didn’t end up like Caroline. To do that he knew he had to stay with her once he started to put her in danger by parading her around town. Right now, that wasn’t altogether a bad thing.
Patiently, he held her and waited for the worst of her tears to fade. Eventually, she subsided, but not until Oliver had become incredibly troubled by just how silent her tears were. She hadn’t wailed like most women would. Those tears had bled quietly into his shirt as she had poured out at least some of her grief, but that steady drip had been as calm and quiet as the grave her sister would be lying in. It was disturbing, unnerving, and yes, more than a little troubling.
“Will you be all right? Would you like me to fetch Mrs Wattling to sit with you for a while?” Oliver asked quietly, hating the thought of having to leave her even while he wanted to be on his way, but only so he could go and see if the young woman in the churchyard was one of the kidnap victims. Torn to know what to do for the best, Oliver patiently waited.
“No, thank you. I will be fine.” Emmeline leaned back to look at him and offered him a sad smile.
“It is to be expected,” he murmured, brushing a stray tear off her cheek with the pad of a thumb.
Emmeline nodded, but words failed her. She had no idea what she should think after the morning she had just experienced. The last thing she had ever expected was for Oliver’s kindness. That had been more touching than anything. But, while his embrace had brought her comfort and solace in her hour of need, it also left her deeply troubled about allowing him to become a part of her life, even through his investigation. She needed some time alone to think about it.
“I need to find out who this latest murder victim is, and if she has any connection to our investigation. I can promise you that we are going to do everything possible to keep you safe while you help us, Emmeline. I wouldn’t ask you to get involved if I didn’t know that we could. Just promise me that you won’t do anything, or go anywhere, until I get back. Like Mrs Wattling said, it isn’t safe for you to go into town alone now, especially after Caroline and the death of the woman this morning.”
Emmeline nodded, but it was more rubbing her cheek against his chest seeing as she was pressed against him as close as it was humanly possible to get. She could hear the dull rumble of his voice somewhere over her head but couldn’t summon the will to put any distance between them. It was wonderful to savour being in his arms and absorb the strength of someone like Oliver, if only for a little while. Thankfully, Oliver didn’t seem inclined to want to release her either.
“Promise me?” he pleaded quietly, tipping her chin up until she could look at him.
Emmeline offered him a shaky smile. Eventually, she realised she was stopping him from going about his business, and reluctantly stepped way.
“I promise I won’t leave the house. I am sorry, I don’t know what came over me. While I had expected Caroline’s demise, to be honest, especially given her lifestyle, it still came as a bit of a shock. I just didn’t realise it.”
“It is going to take some time to come to terms with it,” Oliver warned.
“I will be all right.” Emmeline offered him a shaky smile. “You need to go and see who this young woman is, I know.”
Oliver nodded. “I will also inform my colleagues that you are going to help us. I know they will be relieved. It won’t be today, but if I might call upon you tomorrow then we can make a few plans.” Oliver lifted his brows and smiled when Emmeline nodded.
He knew it was dangerous to get too close to her, not least because she was a part of his investigation and had to remain that way. He was, first and foremost, a consummate professional and had to keep his mind on his work and off the delicious appeal of the stunning young woman before him. However, he also had to balance that professionalism with being a person. Compassion for another’s grief commanded he treat her with the due respect she deserved and be understanding of her tears. There was nothing he could do for Caroline now because she was far beyond the help of anybody, but he could do everything possible to help Emmeline. It was tempting to give her some way of contacting him should she need just to talk, but he couldn’t do that without revealing the location of the safe house, or encouraging her to go out alone. That was an incredibly foolish thing to do given she might be snatched one day, if the Star Elite did fail to keep her out of Smidgley’s determined grasp.
“I will call upon you later tonight, if I may? Just to see how your day went, and that I haven’t brought any trouble to your door,” he murmured. Calling upon her as often as he could was the best solution for them both.
Emmeline blinked at him. “Do you think they followed you here?”
Her stomach fell to her toes. She glanced around wildly and wished now that she had locked the back door after Mrs Wattling.
“No, I don’t. That wasn’t what I meant. If you are sure you are going to be all right by yourself for the next couple of hours, I will go and do what I need to do and will then pop back to check on you around eight o’clock. It may be a little later than that,” Oliver warned.
Emmeline found herself nodding before she contemplated his offer too carefully. As far as she was concerned, Oliver could call upon her whenever he deemed fi
t. The neighbours could think what they liked. Given Caroline’s shenanigans when she had been alive, the family name lay in ruins anyway. It didn’t matter if people saw a tall, dark, and handsome stranger making his way up her garden path on a frequent basis. While it would do little to thwart the prying eyes, it would protect her from anybody who meant her any harm.
“Do you want me to stay for a while?” Oliver offered.
“Do you think your men will already have learnt about the women who was found?” Emmeline asked, seriously contemplating his offer to stay.
“I don’t think so seeing as they hadn’t got a clue that another body had been found when I left them to come here. I cannot see that any of them would have cause to have learnt of the gossip seeing as we don’t move around the villagers very often.”
The Star Elite did move around the villagers quite often, the villagers just didn’t know it because the Star Elite tended to work overnight, long after everyone had taken to their beds, often undercover and in various disguises.
“Then you need to go, don’t you?” Emmeline smiled gently.
She was delighted that Oliver wasn’t so stuffy and pompous, or officious, that he had forgotten how to be compassionate. It gave this tall, somewhat hardened gentleman a heart, and reassured her that she hadn’t been the only one to enjoy the kisses they had shared earlier. That suspicion was bolstered by the fact that she was, once again, back in his arms. Although this time without the kisses. There was, however, a closeness, an intimate connection hovering between them, waiting to be acknowledged.
Oliver smiled and slowly released her. He forced himself to turn away before he kissed her again. Once at the front door, though, there was a decidedly intimate atmosphere between them that was fuelled by the unspoken desire they shared. He suspected that if he did come back tonight then they would have to have a conversation about what had happened between them this morning and why, and where it was going to take them. He knew it was going to take them nowhere. It was just imperative that Emmeline understood that as well. Briefly, he wondered if it might be wiser to send one of the others to come and check on her later. It was only the thought of Rhys calling upon the house late at night and clapping eyes on someone as stunningly beautiful as Emmeline, that made Oliver want to warn his friend to keep his hands, and his eyes, to himself.
“I will see you tonight,” he promised.
“Eight o’clock,” she reiterated, and watched Oliver leave the house.
Emmeline waited in the doorway while he mounted his horse and wheeled it around. He lifted a hand in farewell before he headed off in search of the graveyard. When he had disappeared, Emmeline thoughtfully closed the door and turned to face the house. Eight o’clock seemed such an incredibly long time to wait that she almost dreaded the long day ahead.
CHAPTER SIX
Emmeline had good reason to dread the day ahead as well because half an hour after Oliver had left it grew considerably worse. Firstly, Mrs Wattling manufactured a reason to return and ask her probing questions about Oliver. Emmeline struggled to know what to tell the woman because she didn’t know that much about him herself. But Emmeline couldn’t admit that to her neighbour because she suspected that Mrs Wattling had passed by the kitchen window and seen her in an intimate embrace with the man. It made Emmeline feel terribly wanton to have kissed a man she barely knew. Strangely, while shockingly out of character, it was wonderfully liberating to be free of the restraints of her ordinary, somewhat staid life. Throughout her life, Emmeline had never done anything to cause anybody any alarm. She had been a dutiful daughter, and had done everything anyone had asked of her and more besides because Caroline had brought so much trouble to the family home. Today’s liaison with Oliver was the most scandalous Emmeline had ever been, but it had been daringly rewarding.
“I have never done anything, been anywhere, or experienced anything I truly wish to experience. It’s been terribly boring. Maybe it is time that I did do something for myself for a change, and damn the consequences?”
The more she contemplated it, the more Emmeline began to understand the strange, almost haunted restlessness that had plagued her over the last several months of her life. It had started not long after her last altercation with Caroline, when her sister had wanted to know why she didn’t live her life but chose to remain within the stuffy confines of the family home instead.
“Just because you choose not to live doesn’t mean we all have to be confined to our caskets, do we?” Caroline had said.
“Oh, how right you are,” Emmeline murmured, flopping into a chair beside the fireplace.
She picked up her sewing and then put it back into the basket. Emmeline then wandered into the study and selected a book only to put it back having done nothing more than rifle disinterestedly through the pages. Aimlessly, she wandered from room to room, listening uncomfortably to the silence that followed her. It was interspersed with her repeated sighs, but there was nothing she could do about it. She was bored and wanted something – more.
“It isn’t him. It cannot be him I am yearning for. It is more than that. I want something more out of life; an adventure.”
With nothing else to do with her time but watch the clock go around, Emmeline allowed her thoughts to turn to what really troubled her. The sense of facing something unseen, a silent challenge that put her in danger and threatened her life as she knew it, had started to make its presence felt. She could ignore it but she knew it would stay where it was, waiting in the darkness at the back of her mind to haunt her dreams with thoughts of what might have been, or could be if she was bold enough to take a chance and accept the danger and the difficulties it threw at her.
“It isn’t him I am going to do this for. It is me,” she reiterated more to herself than to anyone else. She was all alone in the house. There was nobody else to talk to; nobody there to listen or answer her. “Maybe that is the problem? Maybe my problem is that there is nobody here to listen anymore? With Caroline gone now, what else do I have in my future? Who else do I have in my future?”
Maybe I need some adventure, and if helping the War Office with this investigation is it, what harm can there be? Oliver has assured me that I will be shown how to protect myself. That can hardly be a bad thing, can it?
Emmeline pursed her lips, but quickly blocked out the nagging voice of reason which immediately asked her what her father would tell her to do. He wasn’t there to advise her. She knew he would strenuously object, as he usually had whenever either of his daughters had wanted to do anything he hadn’t deemed at all ladylike.
“And therein layeth the problem. While I was willing not to rock the boat, Caroline was. If he had just allowed us to breathe a little, maybe none of this would have ever happened?”
But the kidnap victims hadn’t done anything to rock any boats either and their lives had been taken from them just as cruelly as Caroline’s had been taken from her.
“Maybe a little adventure won’t hurt,” Emmeline decided, squaring her shoulders and shaking off her nagging doubts. “I have to do this.”
She repeated that over and over until it became a mantra which rattled around inside her head for the next several hours. By early evening, though, she was going quietly out of her mind. By the time eight o’clock arrived, Emmeline was decidedly nervous yet excited by the prospect of being able to see Oliver again. Restless, and determined to put on a sensible front, Emmeline had changed her dress twice but then changed back into her original outfit, mostly because she didn’t want to give Oliver the impression that she was trying to impress him in any way.
By the time the clock edged past eight o’clock, Emmeline was thoroughly exhausted, out of sorts, and fed up with her lot in life, but mostly, she was impatient to see Oliver again.
“I cannot go through another day like today. I almost wish that I had gone into town with him like he asked,” she muttered in disgust.
While she had made her mind up to help him, she was still nervous of his arriva
l because she now knew that Oliver’s presence in her life was going to bring her turmoil.
“Adventure. That is what I shall call it. It isn’t upset, turmoil, or upheaval, it is adventure. My life is about to become adventurous. I am, after all, going to be helping the War Office.” She smiled at the thought of that because it seemed so ridiculous to contemplate that she, Miss Emmeline Elkins from nowhere important, was going to help the massive, war fighting Government organisation like the War Office. They needed her.
Shaking her head in disbelief, she struggled to wipe the bemused smile off her face as she gazed helplessly at the door and settled back to wait. When she realised what she was doing, Emmeline forced herself to move into the parlour to sew for a while.
“Damn it,” Oliver growled, slamming his saddle bag onto the kitchen table with another muttered oath. He was in a foul temper, and so hungry he was ready to start chewing on the table.
“Bad day?” Niall murmured, only briefly taking his eyes off the papers in his hands to look disinterestedly at his colleague.
“You could say that.” Oliver sighed and slid into the chair opposite.
“How did it go with the chit?”
“She is going to help,” Oliver sighed.
He groaned when his gaze slid to the clock across the room and he realised it was well past midnight. It galled him that he hadn’t stuck to his promise, but there was little he could do about it now. Even if he did venture to the village, Miss Emmeline Elkins would be abed. There was no earthly possibility he could call upon her. He would have to wait until tomorrow, and then he would have to apologise for not going to see her as he had promised.